Comment by shkkmo
4 years ago
> bullshit jobs is a term for jobs that have not yet been automated
This is not what the term is intended to mean. "Uber Driver" (or taxi driver) is a job that performs a necessary function but one that may not necessarily need to be done by a human.
A bullshit job is one that does not really need to be done, one that provides no value to society at large and exists because of zero-sum games, ego, tradition, etc...
I don't agree with all the jobs Graeber described with this label, but it is a very useful concept.
By this definition being a soldier is a bullshit job, because the only reason it's needed is because other countries have soldiers as well (i.e. zero sum). But I don't think most people would agree that it can be done away with. Zero sum games are just an unavoidable part of life.
Zero sum games may not be completely avoidable, but that absolutely doesn't meam that the amount of economic activity wasted on zero sum games can't be reduced.
For example, I think the amount of money spent on nuclear weapons programs globally could be reuced significantly with no harm to the world.